A major development planned for King’s Lynn is being met with a mass of objections by residents and parish councils.

The development of 600 houses and local centres west of Knights Hill Village in South Wootton has garnered more than 200 objections on the West Norfolk Council website and a vast number of residents are expected to attend the planning committee meeting on March 13 to hear the council’s decision.

John Marrow lives in South Wootton and is part of a team who are handing out flyers urging residents to ‘think of the children’ and object the proposal.

“We want to raise awareness over the housing density,” he said. “Traffic is going to be a problem, parking is going to be a problem, pollution is going to be a problem, the council are determined to have an urban spiral in a rural area.”

The application was originally put before the council in January 2017 but Heritage England (HE) and Lord Howard were concerned about the development being so close to historic Castle Rising Castle. The applicants have made revisions to accommodate the suggestions made by HE.

Castle Rising Parish Council clerk Pam Sheppard said: “The development proposed and its impact on the landscape and heritage features, the educational and other service provisions to serve the incoming population, the impact of traffic and the overall scale of the proposals all together appear to significantly exceed the scale identified and assessed in the local plan.”

Jennifer Cook lives close to the proposed development and said: “The traffic on Grimston Road and the A149 are already at a critical point and often gridlocked. At peak times we queue from Knights Hill to get down Edward Benefer Way taking at least 29 minutes each morning. How is this to improve with an extra 600 homes each with approx two cars?”

Resident Ian Davies said: “The town does not want or need this, where are the jobs, dentists and doctors and hospitals to deal with all these people?”

A decision as to whether the development will go ahead is expected to be made at the planning committee meeting at the council offices at 10am on March 13.